Oriental Heartful Journey
by Feng Lengshun
Summary: After the Hopeless Masquerade incident, Hata no Kokoro decided to take a journey to learn more about emotions and gain more experiences. Let us follow Kokoro's adventure to learn the true meaning and importance of emotion.
1. Prologue

Er, um, ah yes! Yahallo, everyone.

It's Hata no Kokoro here.

As you should already knew, I am a Menreiki, a Noh-Mask Tsukumogami you can say.

I was born from the sixty six masks made by Crown Prince Shoutoku and given by him to Hata no Kawakatsu.

I have the ability to control emotion… well I haven't really mastered it, it tended to go berserk from time to time, mostly when I can't control my own emotions.

On an off note, that's where my name comes from. The mask owned by _Hata_ no Kawakatsu that is able to control the heart (_Kokoro_).

Back to the previous topic, see, I would lose control of my emotions when I lose a mask. From the beginning, I was a youkai made of sixty six masks representing sixty six emotions and roles. Losing one would really damage the balance of my own emotion.

And that was what happened one month ago. I lost my mask of hope… I tried to look for it but I couldn't found it. I tried to manage on my own while keep on searching for the mask but eventually, I lost control of my power. I started mess with the hopes of the villagers thanks to it.

That was what incited the incident known as the Hopeless Masquerade.

The human has lost their hopes. The religions jumped on that chance. Due to the dueling-fad as of late, some sort of tournament was held. I don't really know the details so I might be wrong but what I know is that in the end they would fight against me, the last boss!

But I was beaten up in the end. After that, everyone tried to give some solution to my problem but there were actually more to it than meets the eyes.

Hijiri Byakuren had recruited me into her temple to train to control my emotions. In truth, I was being used in order to gain more followers. After all, I control emotions upon which people's beliefs and religions are decided.

Toyosatomimi no Miko, or Prince Shoutoku who had made me in the first place gave me a new mask of hope. It works perfectly. Too perfectly that I was starting to return back to being ordinary mask.

I also came to Hakurei Reimu's shrine to find my old mask of hope, checking to see if it was mixed among the masks sold in the stalls or something. In truth, it was in the possession of Koumeiji Koishi who found it and held on to it. And she refused to return it too.

I myself tried to find a way not to rely on the old mask or restoring it but it didn't work. That was actually the reason why the incident happened in the first place. At first I tried to endure it, but when I tried to restore the mask, I also drained the hopes of the villagers.

In the end, it was the suggestion of Futatsuiwa from Sado that was correct. She said that I should stop relying on the masks and discover my own true emotions through meeting many other people.

Eventually, I realized that the religious people are using the situation for their own agenda. That's why I fought against them, which is Reimu, Byakuren, and Miko, at the same time and I eventually won even though I have been defeated by everyone before and I was really tired from the previous fights.

After that, I went to the festival in the shrine and played an original Kagura dance based on the recent events as an offering to the Gods.

That wasn't the end of course. As I said, I still haven't really mastered my own emotion, which is why I chose to travel to many places. At first, I visited the human village because Mamizou told me to gather information there first. She said to go to a certain bookstore and find more about youkais and locations that could actually help me in achieving my objectives and not just aimlessly wander around Gensokyo.

So, I went there and read the books written by Hieda no Akyuu and a specific location and youkai attracted my interest which is…

* * *

"Which is me, wasn't it?"

She said to me, to which I responded with a nod while donning the young woman masked as I was having fun.

"*sigh*, certainly your choice was not wrong, being an experienced mind reading youkai who somewhat understands others' minds and to a certain degree control them, I am naturally the best choice to take."

Koumeiji Satori said to me. Yes, I chose to visit her first because of her abilities. Although I need to experience the emotions myself, there's nothing wrong in going with asking for advices and suggestions first, right?

"No, it is not wrong, or rather it is the correct one. Instead of going aimlessly to many places, you could save a lot of times by asking me first. You could have just said it to me in a normal way instead of making some summary in your mind as if narrating in a story."

Ehh? But that's no fun! And I like to have fun in whatever I am doing, be it taking a journey or beating people up for the title of the strongest!

"…whatever. Anyway, do you have any plans for now?"

Hm… certainly I do thought of a lot of places that I could visit to gain more experiences.

The Scarlet Devil Mansion, I heard that the mistress' sister is locked in the basement for hundreds of years and never comes out unless permitted by the big sister. I want to know about that person's emotion because I could not imagine being locked by your own sister for centuries.

The Hakugyokurou has ghosts within it and a half-human half-ghost who serves the master of the place who seems to have some hidden depths from what I read. The emotions of the dead, of servitude, and talking with the master of the place should be a nice experience to add.

The Human Village. I only went there for a while and never really examined the humans in depth. Humans are the best creature to take lessons from, if what I read was right. Especially since they could really grow fast emotionally despite having much shorter lifespan than us youkais.

Muenzuka, or rather the Road of Reconsideration, being the place where many people went to suicide and makes many people become depressed just by going there is a place that I could visit to understand more about depressions. Maybe also visit the Garden of the Sun too along the way there. Maybe I should visit the Road Liminality too?

The shrine near the top of the Youkai Mountain is a place of interest too. While the Youkai Mountain is already interesting by itself due to the nature of the Kappas and Tengus that lives there, the shrine near the top takes the cake due to having some really interesting individuals. Not to mention that they also have connections with my original owner, Hata no Kawakatsu.

Perhaps that was why they didn't interfere with the Hopeless Masquerade incident despite usually jumping on chances to gain more followers? I should investigate about that too.

I think I should also talk with Byakuren and Miko again. The way of the Buddhism and Taoism, in addition to the mentalities of a monk and a ruler are things that I think might be of use to me, despite my anger towards them.

There's nothing to gain from going to the destitute shrine maiden's shrine though so it can be skipped for sure.

Anyway, those are the places of the interests in my journey, what is your opinion on it, Satori?

"Too ineffective. You can save time by not going to places that are either redundant or have no use for you. The SDM is okay, but the Hakugyokurou can be skipped since you have no use for the emotions of the dead and the SDM already having a servant, in addition to the impossibility of learning anything from that gluttonous ghost mistress.

The Human Village is a must as humans have very interesting emotions and minds in addition to being interesting in general. There's no need to go to Muenzuka as depression is simply just lacking hope, which you have seen in the recent incident, not to mention going to the Garden of the Sun is like asking for a total beating. You can get what you can from the Road of Liminality in the Human Village too.

Skip the Youkai Mountain since the Kappas and Tengus' society's characteristics are among the aspects of human society but asking for answers from the Moriyas is fine. You have no need for the mentality of a monk and a ruler since it's just some sort of selfless-ness, and since you want to have a self so you can just save them for later. Agreed on the Hakurei Shrine, however."

So… that leaves the SDM, the Human Village and the Moriya Shrine? That's quite the compression there. I thought that with the monkey mask donned as I was rather troubled by the amount of locations being cut.

"Of course, that doesn't mean that you cannot visit those locations, it is just the best and most important places to visit based on your objectives are those locations. I suggest staying in those places for a while as you could gain some useful knowledge and experience from them."

I see… I used the fox mask as I was seriously contemplating her suggestions.

"Well, in any case, I think you should stay here for a day first. There is going to a big festival in the Former Capital soon. I think you might want to see it or maybe even help to set it up as I am sure that it would be an invaluable experience."

Well… that's…

"I also would like to ask you a certain favor. Consider it the payment for the advices I gave."

It seems that I have no choice.

"Yes, I will stay here and I think I will also help set it up. Festivals are fun after all and I do am in debt to you."

I spoke for the first time since my introduction to her.

"Thank you."

"No, no it's nothing. More importantly, what is it that you're going to ask of me?"

She then had a serious expression as she looked at me.

"It is about Koishi…"

* * *

**Afterword:**

Being a fan of Touhou, it would be wrong for me to not make a fanfic for it. Anyway, this is going to be a short story, at most each chapters will have 5k or so (I think) and according to the plan I have written, there will only be 15 Chapters. There will be an OC later on and though she will play an important part, the story is still mainly about Kokoro and her journey to understand the true meaning and importance emotions.

* * *

**First Published:** July 19, 2013.


	2. The Festival

"Huff, there we go!" I said to the long-haired female Oni I whom I was helping. She was standing next to me with a thankful smile sprawled across her face.

"Thank you very much, Hata-san." She said to me. I was helping her arrange the stalls and was just pushing a stall to make it more organized.

"No, no, it's fine. Festival-preparing is kind of fun so it's fine. And please, just call me Kokoro." I replied back while waving my arm.

After all, I get to see many people putting their emotions into it. Not to mention I want to know, if what they said about enjoying a festival you helped to prepare is more satisfying than just coming to it.

A rather lean, male oni with a short blue-colored hair—who had been standing and watching me rearranging the stalls silently—then slowly approached me. He seems to have been watching and learning from what I have been doing, "an intelligent among brutes," perhaps?

"If I may, Hata—I mean, Kokoro-san… I think that you are not suited to do this kind of tasks…" The male oni said, revising his way of addressing me after I glared using my Hannya mask. I don't really like being called by my family name. I'm not sure why myself, it's just that it kind of annoys me for some reason I don't know and I don't understand (yes, it's redundant, but it was just _that_ confusing for me).

"What do you mean by that?" I said, confused as to why he was saying that when what I had been doing was quite productive in my opinion.

"Well, you see… we all are onis, we have strong bodies. We can do anything you could physically do better. But we do realize that we have hard times doing large-scale coordination so what we need is a coordinator; someone to organize us and give direction to us. And I feel that you are the correct person to do the job."

What he said did have some merits. I could probably contribute better if I coordinate their efforts rather than doing things that they can all do better; which is anything physical related. True I was somewhat productive, but in the large scale, I would be _more_ productive if I accepts his suggestion. So I accepted it.

"Sure, why not? I do have a question though."

"That is?" he asked back to me, with a look of curiosity on his face.

"I have read that you guys in the underground likes to party very much, so I wonder, how did you guys do it all this time?"

"Ah… that, huh. First of all, please differentiate between parties and festivals. While we do like to party a lot, we party by simply gathering up and drink together. A festival on the other hand, is a new thing that we would like to try. Well… more like what our… 'boss' here would like to try."

*AHEM*

A cough caught us by surprise. We both turned our heads to look above the wall and saw a blonde, long-haired oni wearing a shirt and dark blue skirt who held a dish cup. Though one thing that really caught my attention was the, er, annoying assets hanging just below her neck for some reason.

"Oi, how many times do I need to say that I'm not the 'boss' here?"

"…yes, yes, Yuugi-san. Anyway, Kokoro-san here has a question to ask of you."

"…Ignored as usual. So, what do you want to ask… Kokoro-san wasn't it? …hm? What are you doing there, staring at me like that?"

"No, no, it is nothing important." I said with the Hannya mask were donned in my face. Dammit, that's one big pair of breasts.

"…Fu, AHAHAHA! You think I didn't realize? I've got that kind of staring of staring all the times after all. Well, you're a newborn Youkai, weren't ya? Then you're still growing so you still have hope."

The oni said consoling about my—wait, since when did I care about this sort of thing? Even if I am like this, I do not care about something as stupid and superficial as breast size. Supposedly.

"That's… weird. I don't think I have ever cared about something like breast size or something like that…"

"Hm? …oh, it's her again."

"Who?"

"Parsee."

Parsee… Parsee… now why is that name familiar… oh, now I remember it.

"The youkai of jealousy that guards the bridge to the underground?"

"Yep. She probably used her ability to control jealousy on you. Probably one with a delayed effect."

So this is how it felt to be jealous huh… it felt kind of like an itch you can't scratch and you just want to throw a tantrum because of it. It's hard to explain, but it's totally annoying in addition to being hard to ignore. But thanks to my ability to manipulate emotion, it isn't that hard to expel Parsee's manipulation. After all, I _do_ have the ability to manipulate _all_ emotion and not just one specific emotion like her.

Also, I _am_ the strongest, a last boss in terms of rank. Compared to her who seems to be more of a second stage boss or something around that, which is obviously much lower than my level.

"Well, I won't say that you shouldn't confront her or something but I'd rather be the one to handle her. She's just a little lonely, you can say."

Loneliness… huh… that reminded me of something I didn't want to think of anytime soon… I don't think I will confront her because of it, despite how interesting the emotion of jealousy would be. Although whether I like it or not, I will have to confront her sooner or later when I leave the underground.

"So, what is it that you want to ask?"

She tried to steer back to topic to the original one and I am quite happy to oblige her attempt.

"Why did you decide to make a festival here instead of just party as usual? Is it boredom?"

"Of course it is!" She said accompanied with a laugh and a large grin.

"We kept on partying and partying and partying without end, even _I_ would get bored by it. So I wondered, what would be interesting? What would be new… what would be different and exciting? That's when I got the idea to make a festival. A festival that takes day to prepare and only done in, at most, every half a year… that would make things much more satisfying won't it?"

True enough. But I do believe that there is a problem that she did not consider, which I pointed out for her.

"That is correct. I didn't consider the onis' brutish nature would make it hard to do a cooperation to setup the festival. I believe that in terms of ability to cooperate, we are higher than the kappas. In terms of actual skills and the practice, however, we lose even to them."

Losing to the kappas in terms of cooperation, that's a pretty big achievement there.

"Well, we just aren't suited for delicate tasks. To be honest, I did not know whether we will able pull it off or not until Satori sent you here so, I have to say thanks to you."

"You're welcome. Now then, I think I should take my leave. Since I am now the coordinator, I would have to check on the current progress, talk with a lot of people, and make a lot of plans and preparations."

"Of course, don't let us hold you off!"

And with that, I left them to check around the festival ground.

I will have to admit that they have some nice ideas, but unfortunately, they lack the ability to pull them off due to their nature. I had to do a lot of re-checking and tidying up. In the end, that's mostly what I do, fixing the mistakes they make like a tilted signs, wrong things in the wrong positions, stalls in the wrong sections, wrong equipment to use… I really am coordinating their efforts here.

And it was really tiring. It was thanks to a discreet usage of my ability that I could get them to easily hear my words because otherwise it would have taken much more time and effort for me to make them follow my directions.

Remembering the number of mistakes, I could do nothing but simply just sigh. They really are worse than the kappas when it comes to group working. Coordinated group working that is, I think that they could still work together but only by avoiding getting each other's way, but not when it comes to working together for one, delicate task. It was to the point that Yuugi-san herself said that they are savages, though I think that they're just a little inept and untrained in coordination.

Eventually the day ended and most of us returned home, myself included as I had Satori's Palace to return to. Yuugi-san said that we should take it easy and savor the processes so the only ones left here are a few onis to guard the festival ground in case of some vandals or unwanted spirits.

It took us one more day to finally finish the preparation. But when we did, everyone felt satisfied with the efforts they put out. It was quite inadequate when compared to the ones above the ground, in fact, it's like a… unmatched mishmash of many styles and themes but for some reason, it has its own charm. Of course there are things related to the nature of oni, with the most prominent ones are a giant gourd (read: a well) of sake made by a dozen of sake bugs and a few arenas for anyone to have some duels, be it physical duel or danmaku duels.

Again, it was hard to make them, but when we were finally finished, right then, everyone cheered at that moment, obviously with great happiness. Everyone except me that is. Considering what I will have to do tomorrow, I don't think I could sincerely be happy with it. Still, I simply just let the cheery atmosphere get to me and just enjoy myself for now, after all, why the hell not? I did a lot of work to make this festival a reality and I would definitely enjoy it as best as I can.

We made a small-scale party for it and drank a lot of sake before returning back to our own places to stay, though some just chose slept there. Definitely not me, I return to Satori's Palace as I have been doing for the past few days and prepared myself for tomorrow. It will be a big day, in a lot of meanings.

* * *

It was the day of the festival. During my stay on Satori's place, I mostly didn't talk to anyone. Utsuho Reiuji and Rin Kaenbyou, the two pets of Satori was busy doing their works in the Hell of Blazing Fires. I didn't want to ruin my masks so I did not go there and thus only talked a few times with them.

Satori on the other hand was simply a reclusive person, she mostly only stayed in her room and read. I could understand why she's like that though, remembering that she could read minds. It's probably uncomfortable for both her and the person she's talking too. Well, not exactly talking as even I couldn't hold an actual conversation with her. A conversation would imply two or more people talking with each other, not one person talking and not letting the other side talk back.

Actually, I had told Satori about that but apparently it has become a habit that was hard to repress. She does know that the habit has made many upset and hated her but she doesn't really care about it anymore, due to some reason she did not tell me.

Anyway, on the day of the festival, Koishi came here. I don't know how and why, but she came back here anyway. So, we decided to go to the festival together.

The festival was very crowded, a lot of youkai mingling and going between one stalls to others. It was very loud and cheerful, with everyone—well, mostly everyone—smiling and laughing as they have fun around the festival, trying the games, eating food, drinking like there's no tomorrow, and having some fierce physical duels in.

We went to many stalls, trying the game and the food. We compete at the game of the stalls, with the result being her winning by a few margin of victories from me. Koishi said that it reminded her of the incident where she had actually intended to have a gourmet adventure but instead got into some competition. It made her so excited that she dragged me around. _Literally_.

"Ah, there's a mask stall there!"

Uh, I still have my bad memory of those stalls… must resist urge to destroy…

"Hey, hey, which mask do you think is good for me? Ah, I think this one is good, what do you think."

She picked up a plastic mask that looked like a Jizo statue's face… is it just a coincidence or could it be a subconscious action? Or maybe…

"Sure. I think it's nice… here, I'll pay for you. And don't worry, it's the money that your sister gave me to spend in this festival"

"Oh, that's right, sis did gave us some money. I'm really forgetful aren't I?" she simply said innocently, tilting her head and putting a finger on her chin as she did so.

"Well …yes, I guess so."

I paid the oni who was selling the masks while looking carefully at the mask before passing it along. She then immediately wore it on her face.

After that, we walked around trying out the various games around in the festival. During that time, we talked about a few things.

"By the way, how did you get here unharmed by the youkai around here?"

"I simply just told them that I'm friend with satori."

Note that I didn't say that it was 'Satori', only 'satori' so I wasn't lying as I did know Koishi, who is a satori too, prior to this. The big sister's weird name turns out to be useful after all. Really, it's kind of weird to have the name of your species as your front name, though she's not the only one in that regards. Some youkais are just bad at choosing names I guess.

"Ah, I know, I know! I had suggested the same idea to one of the human above the ground too! I think. She beat me pretty hard that time if I my memory was correct so I didn't remember about it much."

There are so many things wrong with those sentence but I didn't say anything about it.

"Oh, so you got beaten by her too?"

"Yes… but she's just too strong!"

"I agree. You know, how about we go over there and sit down. We've been walking around for a while after all." I said, pointing at a somewhat far away and secluded seat.

"Eh, sure, why not?"

We then walked toward the wooden chair and sat down on it. And then, we simply just stayed silent and watched the festival in the distance.

It was an interesting sight.

So many people being happy and joyful. I think it was weird. This is just a festival, you're just walking around in this place so why do they look so happy? Why do they grin foolishly as they shoot toy guns? What is so special about using a small net to catch some goldfish in a small bucket?

No… I believe I have already understood the answer. It was satisfaction.

To see a festival is like to see cherry blossoms on spring. It was brief, and yet the atmosphere engulfs you, fills your emotions with nothing but happiness. And then when it's over, it leaves you with a bittersweet feeling that only then exists in your memories. To enjoy life as it goes and to accept the bittersweet ending that will eventually come…

Ah, I see. This festival is like how you live life itself. It is filled with happy times and sad times, but they all keep on coming and going.

That's why, you just accept live as it is. It is filled with hardships and you might die anytime, even if you are a youkai. But isn't it fine? If live is like that, then you just need to enjoy it. It is small happiness such as this that made live truly worth living I believe.

And I was contend with simply just watching the festival like this. I closed my eyes and just hear the sounds of the festival while trying to feel the emotions of everyone around me, the happiness around me, flowing through my body. It was truly heartwarming. It made me smile happily just feeling them. So, happiness is infectious, huh? That's interesting, I never would have guessed that.

Finally, Koishi broke the silence.

"Hey, Kokoro, for today… thank you. I know that you were asked by my sister to accompany me and that I was annoying sometimes. But still, you stayed with me. For that, I thank you."

So, in the end she knew huh? Yes, I was asked to accompany her for this festival. The reason?

"Has it lost all of the leftover energy?"

"Not yet. The mask of hope still has a little of it. Otherwise I wouldn't be talking to you here."

It was because the mask of hope was starting to lose its energy. Koishi, someone who was empty, was able to hold something within her heart due to the mask. She was able to remember it despite usually not holding anything within her heart. Yes, she regained her self because of my old mask of hope.

But it isn't something eternal. The mask will eventually lose its energy and she will return back to how she was. And the time for it to fully lose its leftover energy is today.

Yes, this festival, was all meant for her. In fact, had I didn't come, Satori probably would have taken Koishi out by herself, disregarding the pain that would come from walking out on such a crowded place, both physically (headache from being a mind reader) and emotionally (she had to make Koishi happy while hiding her own sadness).

My arrival changed things however, I could take her to see much more things while not making Koishi worried. Maybe she would have been happier with her sister than with me, but she would also be sad seeing her in pain. That's why, it would be better for me to accompany her. It will not necessarily worry her and… I myself am a friend with her. It made things easier, but also harder as she was my first friend.

To be honest, I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't come, or if I hadn't accepted Satori's request. However, what I do know is that I have made my decision, and I will not regret it. After all, life always has two sides to it. And it is sadness that makes happiness all the more valuable. Heh, they were right, happiness really is a small thing that you won't recognize until it was taken away from you.

And now, the festival was going to reach its end soon, and so will Koishi return to her old empty self. I still won't regret it, but even so, I have a question that I simply must ask her.

"Why don't you just use this time to open your third eyes again?"

Since she is self-aware right now, she could just will her third eyes to open up again, but Koishi just looked at me and smiled.

"I can't. My mind wouldn't be able to take it because it has been so long since I last opened my mind. I would overload it, and we Youkais have a rather fragile mind after all."

Indeed, such was why we fear evil spirits, for they can rewrite our mind and thus, effectively kill us. Again, I have to ask her a question.

"Even so, won't you regret it? Is it not better for you to try and take a risk for it?"

Again, she simply just smiled.

"Kokoro, you know the answer, right? After all, I believe that you have the same feeling as I do. Really, it isn't that I don't want to, it's just that I have simply made my decision. Just like you."

She was right. And there's nothing I could do about her decision as she has respected my decision and my feelings too.

"It has been interesting, traveling around and fighting a lot of people, meeting you and going to this festival. I can safely say that it was fun… that I was happy. …I, I don't want to forget about any of them. But I have no choice in this."

I grabbed her hand as she started to cry… either in sorrow… or in fear. Most likely, both.

"I will promise this to you, Koishi… that even if you forget, I will never forget about this. That way, this memory will always remain, and it will never lose its values. You are my first friend after all, and no one can replace you in that regards."

…

"Thank you."

She said with her eyes closed, a trail of tears flowing from her closed eyes. I too closed my eyes, and waited for the time to come. The only thing I heard was the fireworks in the background, and the only thing I felt was her hand and the ambient emotions of joy, which suppressed my desire to just break down and cry.

I waited and waited. One minute. Thirty minutes. An hour. Two hours.

I didn't know how long I waited. I only realized that she was gone when the festival was over and a cold wind blows through, bringing me to my senses. By then, I was only clenching my own hand, alone, with a small pile of white-colored dusts left on the ground, most likely what was left of my old mask of hope. A second wind then blows again, sweeping the leftover dusts into the sky.

Koishi has returned to being empty and unnoticeable. I can still remember her, but I don't think I could ever talk to her like how we have been talking, nor can I meet her or even search for her.

Partings and sadness… they're always close to our lives it seems. It's inseparable as there's nothing that is truly eternal. Changes will always happens, and with it, also partings and grief. It will always happen… whether you like it, or not… huh?

I see, it seems that I still have a lot more to learn of life and emotion, huh? That's fine, it was the purpose of my journey after all but for now… I simply just want this tears to stop. Whether I understand it or not… losing a friend still hurts. I… don't want to feel this again, but, grief really is just a natural emotion isn't it? It always happens from time to time.

After all, the festival will always come to an end, whether you like it or not.

It took me until half an hour later to actually return to the Satori's Palace.

* * *

The next day…

"Once again, I thank you for staying with my sister last time. Although she will forget it soon, I believe that she will not forget about it in her subconscious."

Is that so? That is nice I suppose.

"So, I'm off then. Thank you for letting me stay here this past few days and for the advice."

"It is nothing compared to what you did. So, you are going to Moriya Shrine next? I see, because it is closer huh? Though you will have to deal with that person first, just be careful with her, you can say that she is nearly as dangerous as me. Also, try be careful with the tengus on the mountain. They don't like trespassers but if you said that I sent you, then you should be able to get through easily. Yes, my name is convenient isn't it?"

Yes it is. They really weren't kidding when they said that you are hard to talk with. Well then, I guess I'm going now.

"Take care on your way there."

And so, I left the Underground and headed for the Moriya Shrine. But first, to deal with that youkai of jealousy.

* * *

**Afterword:**

There goes. I read somewhere that Koishi will return to her empty self once the mask lost its power so I decided to write about the aftermath here. I don't know whether it was good enough or not but I hope that it was. With Parsee, it was something I remembered rather late into the chapter writing but thanks to Yuugi, I was able to integrate it somehow.

In any case, I would like to give thanks to proofreader Audiodelus who pointed where I could make them better and much less messy. Also, as I am writing this, I had several reconsideration for the main plot. Not much changing for the first and last five chapters, only the middle ones, mostly because I still quite averse to the idea of using an OC for my plan. In any case, I'm returning to TPC and IS:R now I guess.

By the way, today (Sept 30) is my 17th birthday. It'll only get harder from now on, especially with the amount of works I have as a third-year high schooler, but I am still going to continue writing. Anyway, I'm out, see you next time folks.

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**First Published:**

September the 30th, 2013


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